Thrilling Secrets
by cordyangel14
Summary: Albus and Scorpius have never really talked much, and have always assumed that they don't like each other, but when they're forced together, they both start to think that their opinions of each other before were completely wrong.
1. Chapter 1

Albus Potter walked into the Great Hall for lunch with his cousin, Rose, and older brother, James. The three of them joined the rest of their family at their usual spot at the Gryffindor table.

"So, little brother," James said. "You're turning fifteen in about a month and a half. What do you want to do for your birthday?"

Albus groaned mentally and put down the sandwich he was nibbling on. James would probably insist on having a huge party. Albus didn't want anything for his birthday. He didn't like being the center of attention. Albus always hoped that his birthday would pass by unnoticed, but his huge family remembered every year, and every year, James ended up throwing Albus a party, with or without Albus's knowledge.

"I don't want to do anything," Albus replied honestly, hoping that this would be the year James respected his wishes.

"You say that every year!" James protested.

"Please, James, I really don't want to have a party," Albus insisted.

"Al, can you help me with my History of Magic homework?" Hugo called out, distracting both James and Albus.

Albus walked over to the end of the table, where Hugo was sitting, and spent the next fifteen minutes tutoring Hugo in History of Magic before heading down to Double Potions. He sat down at his desk in the cold dungeon just in time for class to start. Professor Slughorn slowly made his way across the front of the classroom.

"Good afternoon, class," said Professor Slughorn. "This unit we'll be studying the Mopsus Potion, a potion that helps one see the future. You'll be divided up into pairs to work on it. We'll be on this project for the next month or so." Slughorn began reading off his list of partners. Albus zoned out until he heard his own name being called. "...and Mr. Potter will be paired with Mr. Malfoy."

_God, no_, Albus thought. He couldn't be working with _Malfoy_. Albus had never had much interaction with Scorpius, but Al's family had told him all about the Malfoys, how they were selfish, evil, prejudice, greedy Death Eaters. James and his cousins made sure that Albus stayed clear of Malfoy whenever possible, but Albus had obviously seen Malfoy around school. Malfoy seemed to spend a lot of time reading in the library, and he would ride his broom and toss around a quaffle with his mates, but, like Albus, wasn't on the Quidditch team.

Albus brought his attention back to the class. Slughorn finished reading off the list of names and ordered everyone to go sit next to their partner. Albus unwillingly scooped up his books and went to sit down next to Malfoy.

"Malfoy," Albus grumbled.

"Potter," Scorpius replied in the same tone, and gave Albus a look that told him that Malfoy's family had told Scorpius some not-so-great things about the Potters.

"So, um, you want to meet up in the library tonight to work on this?" Albus asked reluctantly.

"Yeah, I guess." Scorpius sighed.

Slughorn called the class to attention and began his lecture. Albus and Scorpius began rapidly taking notes for their project until class was over. Both of them sprung up from their seats and fled the room the moment the bell rang.

Albus found his family in the first place he looked, the common room. Everyone usually gathered there to get a bit of studying done before dinner.

"Hey guys. So I got paired up with _Scorpius Malfoy_ for a potions assignment. I'm meeting with him in the library tonight to get started on it," Albus said, rolling his eyes irritably.

Albus heard a couple groans of sympathy and a few chuckles making fun of his bad luck. After the group had digested Albus's unfortunate news, they all went back to focusing on their schoolwork. Albus settled down on the large couch next to Lily.

"Hey, Lil. Watcha working on?"

"Astronomy," she answered. "I'm having trouble with this constellation."

"Let me see," Albus said, pulling the book into his lap. "You see, k Car belongs to the Carina constellation, not the Pictor constellation..."

Albus helped Lily with her Astronomy homework, and once he was confident Lily was on the right track, he pulled out his Potions work to get a start on the Mopsus Potion. The sooner he was done with this project and away from Scorpius Malfoy, the better.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review and give me constructive criticism. Don't be afraid to be harsh, I can take it! And let me know if you want me to continue this.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey," Albus greeted Malfoy as Malfoy walked into the library and sat down at Albus's desk by the window, overlooking the Black Lake.

"Hi," Scorpius replied.

"So I've gotten a head start on our project-"

"Me, too. I'm thinking we should use a frog's brain instead of a pickled slug."

"That's a good idea," Albus said appreciatively. _Huh_, Albus thought. _Maybe working with Malfoy won't be so bad after all._ "There's a book I saw over there earlier that might help us. It's about Divination potions."

"Okay, let's go take a look," Scorpius said. The two boys got up and walked the short distance to the Divination section. Albus skimmed the titles, while Malfoy stood near him. Scorpius's hand bumped into Albus's and Albus retracted his hand quickly, and reached up to grab the book he had been searching for.

"Here it is," Albus announced. He flipped through the pages, looking for the Mopsus Potion. He paused when he saw it. "Okay, this is the bit on the Mopsus Potion."

"Let me take a look," Malfoy said, leaning over Albus's shoulder to get a better view. Albus could feel Malfoy's breath on the back of his neck. It made the hair there stand up. "Yeah, that looks helpful. Let's bring it back with us."

Scorpius and Albus made their way back to their seats to look through the book. They took notes on the potion for an hour or so before deciding that they had gotten enough done for one day and made plans to meet up at the same time the next day.

Albus strolled into the common room, pleasantly surprised that his study session with Malfoy hadn't been completely dreadful.

"Hey Albus," Albus's cousin Louis said. "How was that thing with Malfoy?"

"It was okay. We just studied," Albus said, thinking about how it felt when Malfoy was breathing down his neck. He certainly wasn't telling his first-year cousin about _that_.

"Oh, okay," Louis replied, obviously not too interested in the subject. "Can we go play Quidditch?"

"Sure," Albus agreed. "Why don't you go ask your sister if she wants to join us?"

Louis scurried off to Dominique, who was on the far end of the common room, studying with some friends of hers. The three of them grabbed their broomsticks and went outside to enjoy the last few hours of daylight. They were soon joined by Michelle Meyer, a fourth-year Ravenclaw. After a while, Louis had to turn in, and Dominique went in with him. Michelle and Albus played around for a few minutes when Scorpius emerged from the castle with his broomstick.

Before Albus could stop her, Michelle cried out, "Hey, Scorpius, why don't you come up here and toss around the quaffle with us?" Albus and Malfoy both cringed, but they were too far away to see the other one's face.

"Um, yeah, okay, I guess," Malfoy yelled back and flew up to join them. Michelle threw the quaffle to him and Scorpius dove down to catch it.

"Nice one!" Albus said.

"Thanks," Malfoy muttered. _Is he blushing?_ Albus wondered. The three fourth-years continued to play around until it got dark. They made their way into the school, chatting about Quidditch and school. Michelle parted with them to go to the Ravenclaw common room. Albus and Scorpius strolled around for a bit.

"So how annoying are those two Hufflepuffs in Potions? What are their names? Michael and Cindy?" Scorpius said.

"Oh my God, they're the _worst_! They flirt all class, it's so hard to hear Slughorn's lectures over them."

"It's been like that since first year, too. I had Charms with them our first term of first year."

"I feel so bad for the Hufflepuffs who have to live with them."

The two boys made fun of their classmates until they arrived in front of the Gryffindor common room.

"Well, I guess it's time I turn in for the night," Albus said.

"Yeah, I guess so," Malfoy replied. He lingered there for a moment, not speaking, his lips only inches away from Albus's. "See you in class," he breathed. Then he was gone. Albus breathed out a sigh he hadn't realized he'd been keeping in, woke up the Fat Lady to tell her the password, and entered the common room.

"Al, over here!" James called from a comfy-looking sofa in the room in front of a fireplace, surrounded by books. Albus went to go sit with him, wondering what that moment with Malfoy had been about, and why it gave him butterflies. "Where have you been?" James asked.

"I was out playing Quidditch with Louis, Dom, and Michelle," Albus answered, purposely leaving out the part about Scorpius. He hoped Michelle hadn't told anyone and he wouldn't get caught and have to explain to James why he was hanging out with Malfoy.

"Are you thinking of trying out for the team next year?" James asked hopefully. James, like his father, was the captain of the Quidditch team. James was always trying to convince Albus to join the team. He had already gotten to Lily. She'd be on the team next year for sure, with all the time James had devoted to helping her improve her Quidditch skills.

Albus shook his head. "I don't think so."

"C'mon," James begged. "If you join, the whole family will be on the team! It'll be so much fun! Mum and Dad would love it if all of their kids were on the Gryffindor Quidditch team at the same time. Plus, it's my last year."

"I just won't have enough time. I'll have my OWLs next year."

"I was just fine my fifth year, and I'll be doing Quidditch next year with my NEWTs."

"Yeah, well, you're you," Albus said, and got up to retire to his dormitory.

"What's that supposed to mean?" James playfully yelled at his brother's back.

Albus went upstairs to his dormitory and got ready for bed. All of the Quidditch he played had really tired him out. Playing around with Scorpius and talking to him afterward hadn't just been _decent_, like their study session. Albus actually had fun, and he thought Scorpius did, too.


	3. Chapter 3

A few days after playing Quidditch together, Scorpius and Albus were crouched over a book in the library, sitting considerable closer than they had been when they first started working together.

"So, um, Albus, do you want to maybe get together this weekend?" Scorpius blurted out.

"You mean to work on the potion?"

"No... like, just to hang out."

"Um, well, sure, I guess," stammered Albus, taken slightly by surprise. "Do you want to meet up in the Astronomy Tower on Sunday night? Around nine? The prefects will be done with their rounds by then. We'll be all alone."

"Sure. That sounds good," Scorpius said, then gave Albus a small smile. "Do you want to go look for a book on Herbaria? I think we could use some help on that."

The boys got up to go to the Potions section of the library. They looked through the titles on the spines of the books.

"Look, there's one," Scorpius said. He reached up, standing on his tip-toes to grab the book. Albus's eyes kept flickering over to Scorpius as Malfoy's shirt came up, revealing his sculpted abdomen muscles. Scorpius stood next to Albus, opened the book, and held it in between the two of them. Their upper arms touched and neither of them moved away this time. They brought it back to their desk and copied down notes from it for a few minutes before finishing up and heading back to their own dormitories.

* * *

Albus sat in the common room with James on Sunday night, anxiously awaiting 9 PM. He looked at the clock. 7_:30._ He pulled out his Herbology assignment, hoping that it would occupy him until it was time to go meet Scorpius. He finished it much earlier than he expected and looked at the clock again. _8:15._ He read over his Defense Against the Dark Arts notes. _8:30._ Still too early to go to the Astronomy Tower to meet Scorpius. James asked why he was so jittery. Albus made up some lame excuse and took out his History of Magic essay to work on. _8:45._ Albus would probably be early, but he was too anxious to wait around in the common room. He put away his books and headed towards the hallway.

"Where are you off to?" James asked. Albus cringed before putting on a straight face and turning around to face his brother.

"I was just going to the kitchens to grab a snack before bed," Albus said. He hoped James wouldn't be able to tell that he was lying. He really didn't want to see James's reaction when he found out that Albus was hanging out with a Slytherin instead of him.

"Oh, I'll come with you. I'm feeling a bit peckish."

"No, no, that's okay. I'll, um, bring you something."

James's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Okayyyy," he replied, drawing out the last syllable.

Albus fled the room before his brother could ask him any more questions. He strode quickly through the hallways and moving staircases. Albus was about to turn a corner when he heard his cousins, Rose and Lily coming towards him from around the corner. Albus childishly looked for a place to hide so that he wouldn't have to lie to more of his relatives, but his cousin and sister rounded the corner before he had time to duck inside a classroom or behind a statue.

"Hey, Al!" Lily said brightly. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, well, I'm just going to the kitchens."

"Why? We just went at about 7," Rose said,

"Yeah, we did, didn't we... um, well I guess I'm still hungry."

"Alright, then," Rose answered slowly, a bit confused.

Albus passed on by them and breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that he wouldn't have to explain himself to anyone else. He walked through the hallways until he arrived in front of the long staircase leading to the top of the Astronomy Tower. Albus looked over his shoulder to make sure that no teachers were lurking around to get him into trouble for going into the Tower. He made his way up the creaking steps until he was at the top, his heart pounding in anticipation. He didn't even know why he was so anxious to see Scorpius. He peeked his head in to see if anyone was in the top of the tower. Albus's eyes were immediately drawn the bright, blonde head that belonged to Scorpius Malfoy.

Scorpius spotted him immediately. "Hi, Albus!" Scorpius said to Albus. Scorpius's face lit up as he greeted Albus. Scorpius was sitting on the floor with his legs stretched out in front of him, leaning back onto the wall.

"Hey," Albus responded bashfully, looking down. Albus sat down next to Scorpius by the wall.

"So what were you doing before you came here?" Scorpius asked, making small talk.

"I was just doing homework with my brother, James, in the common room."

"James, he's the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, right?"

"Yeah, that's him."

"Why aren't you on the team? You were pretty good when we played together."

"So were you, why aren't _you_ on the team?" Albus replied semi-playfully, and gently nudged Scorpius with his shoulder.

"I don't know, my dad really wants me to, but I'd rather focus on school and other things."

"James is the same way. He just won't take no for an answer."

"I bet that's tough, with him going to school here. At least I can get away from my dad when I'm at school."

"He isn't that bad. I mean, he can be a pain, but he's a good brother."

"Are you guys close?"

"Yeah, we're close. He's one of my best friends."

"So did you tell him about this?"

"God no! He'd freak out if he knew I was hanging out with you," Albus said, then bit his tongue, worried that he might have offended Scorpius.

"So would my dad! It seems our parents had a bit of a feud back when they were our age."

"My parents told me about that. And so did my aunt and uncle, Ron and Hermione."

"Right, I've heard about them, too," Scorpius said with a grin on his face. "Didn't your aunt slap my dad once?"

"Yep, that was her," Albus said, laughing.

"Good for her, mate." Scorpius commented, laughing along with Albus.

Albus stared into Scorpius's deep, piercing blue eyes, noticing them for the first time. Scorpius stared back, and then, with a small remainder of his smile still in place, leaned forward, and pressed his lips to Albus's.


End file.
